Only two other NBA players have ever won the award — Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. Last year the award went to Michael Phelps off his performance at the London Olympics, other past winners include Aaron Rodgers, NASCAR’s Jimmy Johnson, Tom Brady, Tiger Woods and going back Joe Montana, Carl Lewis, Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali and Jesse Owens.

“I’m chasing something and it’s bigger than me as a basketball player,” James told the AP. “I believe my calling is much higher than being a basketball player. I can inspire people. Youth is huge to me. If I can get kids to look at me as a role model, as a leader, a superhero … those things mean so much, and that’s what I think I was built for. I was put here for this lovely game of basketball, but I don’t think this is the biggest role that I’m going to have…

“I don’t think I’ve changed much this year,” James said. “I’ve just improved and continued to improve on being more than just as a basketball player. I’ve matured as a leader, as a father, as a husband, as a friend.”

LeBron is off to another MVP-like season — he is averaging 25.2 points per game but is doing it at amazing efficiency, his true shooting percentage so far this season is 67.4 percent, plus averaging 6.9 points and 6.2 assists a game. His minutes are down a little, he’s taking a couple fewer shots a game but LeBron is still impacting any game he is in on both ends of the floor more than any player on the planet right now.

Miami has the chance this year to make it to their fourth straight NBA Finals (the last team to do that was Bird’s Celtics in the mid 1980s) and win three straight NBA titles. If that happens (it will not be easy with the Indiana Pacers in their path) it will be because of James.

@Money
He does have some sick obsession with Lbj. I heard the other day he knocked over some poor kid @ the Heat game trying too catch Lb’s dirty headband, to make his own personal LeBron in a bottle!!